A. I'm someone who has been writing all my life--I'm also a wife and
mother of
five, grandmother to eighteen and great grandmother to seven. I've also
been
helping others learn how to write and get published for the last
fifteen
years. Because of my writing, my husband and I have been able to do
some
interesting traveling together.

Q. What inspired you to write WING BEAT?

A. WINGBEAT is the fifth in the Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. Because
Tempe,
Hutch and Blair are as real to me as my friends and relatives and I'm
also
anxious to see what adventure they are going to have next.

Q. How did you come about Tempe's character?

A. Tempe's character is based on two female law enforcement officers I
met.
One, a resident deputy like Tempe, I interviewed for the newspaper. The
other was the only female officer in a small police department. I did a
ride-along with her. From the hours of 2:30 a.m. until 5:30 a.m. she
received not one call. During this time period she told me all about
what it
was like being a female officer--the problems as well as what she loved
about her job. Tempe's looks, however, come from a Native American
woman
that I know, and her name is my great-grandmother's name.

Q. Is mystery the only genre you write in?

A. My first published books were historical family sagas based on my own
family's genealogy. My next book was a mystery, and I've been writing
mysteries ever since. In the middle somewhere, I wrote to Christian
horror
novels.

Q. How long have you been writing?

A. Since I was a little girl. In my teenager years I wrote plays for the
local
kids to act out and a magazine that I illustrated and sold around the
neighborhood. When my own children were in school, I was the editor for
the
PTA newsletter, wrote a few articles for magazines, and plays for my
Camp
Fire Girls to star in. My youngest was in kindergarten when I began
writing
my first family saga.

Q. How many books have you written?

A. I'm not really sure. I think 14 have been published but I have others
written that are waiting in the wings.

Q. Of all of books you have written, which is your
favorite?

A. I always feel like the latest book I've finished writing is my
favorite,
though I think my first mystery, The Astral Gift, ranks among my best.

Q. Why did you choose to write about a marijuana bust?

A. The county that I live in seems to have more hidden marijuana farms
than
anywhere else in California. The DEA is always discovering a pot farm
on
National Park lands or near the Tule River Indian Reservation. (That's
the
reservation that is disguised as the Bear Creek Reservation in my Tempe
books.) Once I interviewed a family for our local newspaper that lived
in a
place just like the one where the marijuana farm in my book is located.
However, their place is not rundown.

Q. Why did you choose to have Hutch's character struggle against a
mistaken identity?

A. Because Hutch is a minister with strong faith--I wanted to find
something
that would shake his faith.

Q. What message would you like readers to receive from reading WING
BEAT?

A. When I'm writing a book, I don't really think about messages. I hope
people
will get enjoyment from reading any of my books. I do want to convey
the
feeling that Tempe and Hutch are very much in love and despite the
troubles
that may come upon them, their love sustains them.